About

Welcome to Soviet Kitchen. The authors of this blog were born and raised in different republics of the former Soviet Union. While we do not support Communism as an ideology in any way, we are still fond of some things from that bygone era. Our childhood and teenage memories are almost exclusively positive, and food has certainly got a lot to do with that. Despite occasional shortages of different ingredients, our parents and grandparents were still able to prepare nutritious meals that tasted great. The vast territory of the Soviet Union, spanning from Europe to the Far East, was home to a great number of nations and cultures, each boasting their own cuisine. There are many thousands of delicious dishes available, some virtually unknown to the Western food enthusiasts. We believe that anyone’s culinary and tasting experience can be enriched by becoming familiar with a few of them, and this is our goal.

We will translate a number of cookbooks published in various periods of the existence of the Soviet Union, some of them emphasizing the regional cuisine of a certain republic, some representing the variety of best dishes those regional cuisines had to offer. We will not attempt to recreate each and every translated recipe. Those that will be recreated will include photographs of the process and the final dish.

We are not professional translators, and since English was not our first language, we will have some mistakes. Please let us know how we can improve our translation. We appreciate any help.

You asked for a bit of help on translation. Permit me, please, a native refinement. In context, your phrase “Vast territory of the Soviet Union . . .” is not really incorrect. But it sounds awkward. It hits the ear wrong. Better to write: “The vast territory . . . .” A native ear wants the article in the sentence above.